Editor’s Note

Looking great at 100!

I’ve been searching for a word that means to look backward and forward at the same time. Some culture, religion or language should have a phrase for that, right? The Inuit have dozens of words for snow, surely they have a word for being torn between the past and the future. What about the Germans? Any language that comes up with schadenfreude (pleasure taken from someone else’s pain) must have a term for being caught between what you’ve done and what you’re about to do.

Perhaps I should stop being so analytical and just celebrate this crossroads for Famous.

You see, this is our 100th issue, so we’ve spent a lot of time looking at old copies and coming up with Famous trivia for our “100th Issue Quiz.” But it’s also the launch of our redesign, our first major facelift since issue No. 1 came out in November 1999. This bold new look comes courtesy of our extremely gifted art director, Matt Picket. Going through this process with Matt was a delight, as he methodically revealed his reasons for every new line, dot, font and colour. This dynamic update will propel us into a new era, where design and content work hand in hand to make Famous better than ever.

Credit for our past (and future) successes also goes to my wingman, deputy editor Ingrid Randoja. Among the many things Ingrid brings to this magazine is her encyclopaedic knowledge of movies and the sense of humour she winds through everything she writes. Unless she’s writing about something depressing, of course. Because that would be inappropriate.

And one more thank you. Our publisher Salah Bachir had a vision for this magazine even before I was brought on-board to create that first issue. One of the first things he said to me was that he didn’t want Famous to be a gossip magazine. Fortunately, I agreed. Over the years, as entertainment outlets around us delved deeper and deeper into the sordid and tedious personal lives of certain celebrities, we stuck to that vision, which I believe has set us apart.

So, on to the stories.

“It’s High Time” is our chat with Kal Penn and John Cho about how their stoner sequel, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, actually elevates the cause of Asian-Americans.

In “The Direct Approach” Helen Hunt talks about Then She Found Me, the movie she stars in, wrote and directed. No wonder she’s been working on it for a decade.

And in “How’s Trix?” cover girl Christina Ricci reveals why the summer blockbuster Speed Racer was cool enough to pull her off the indie circuit. By the way, Ricci was also featured on the very first cover of Famous, for Sleepy Hollow.

Marni Weisz, editor